1. Field
At least one feature relates to acquisition of ultra wideband communication networks, and, more particularly, to a method for assisting a communication device to improve ultra wideband wireless network acquisition time by obtaining information from other communication devices already in the network.
2. Background
Ultra-wideband (UWB) is a radio technology that can be used at very low energy levels for short-range high-bandwidth communications by using a large portion of the radio spectrum. However, one of the challenges of the current UWB technology is the relatively long initial acquisition time, i.e. the time for a transmitter and receiver to achieve initial synchronization. The long acquisition time is a result of the large number of channels associated with UWB European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA) 368 standards which create a large initial search space.
The current UWB standard supports sixty (60) different channels. When a UWB communication device seeks to acquire the network, it is initially turned On and has to search all the different channels to detect the physical layer (PHY) frame preamble which is used to acquire the network. Additionally, the UWB communication device has to detect beacons during the beacon period, which occupies the first portion of the medium access control (MAC) superfame, which is 65 ms long. If the UWB communication device does not know the beginning of the superframe it has to keep searching until it detects the beacons. Due to the scanning performed by the UWB communication device to detect the network, the acquisition process may take a noticeably long time. Consequently, a way is needed to expedite and/or improve the acquisition process so that the UWB communication device may acquire a UWB network, such as a Multi-band (MB) Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) UWB system, more quickly.